FROM THE BRIDGE
Home for the holidays? Not happening By Dorie Cox
The holiday season can be hard for those who can’t get time off work, or for those who are far from their families. For yacht crew, both are a given. Holidays on yachts are almost guaranteed to mean long days for crew, hard work and no chance for even a quick trip home. So how do captains manage to keep spirits high? A diverse group of veteran captains joined Triton recently in a From the Bridge roundtable discussion via Zoom to talk about the challenges of holidays for yacht crew. The seven captains have decades of private and charter yacht experience between them, and crew rosters numbering up to 13. As a policy to encourage candid discussion, captains who participate in Triton’s From the Bridge discussions are not named.
HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT WORKING HOLIDAYS?
owner said when he hired me “The — he made it abundantly clear —
that I would never, ever have holidays off, or anytime his kids were off. Most people are up front about it, and it is the expectation of the industry.”
an industry standard. You just “It’s accept that you are working when
everyone else is on vacation. In these peak seasons, be it Christmas or Thanksgiving or whatever the case, this is when those that can afford to charter want to do it, and your responsibility is to run that boat.”
time is no different than “Holiday any other season that we have. Summer, shipyard, winter, Fourth of July — you just go through it. That’s just part of the deal.
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ARE THERE INCENTIVES FOR HOLIDAY WORK?
often do expect it, but “They they’re not going to get it.”
“
I would not promise crew anything. In fact, quite the contrary. I would expect them to expect to be on call for whatever the boat has to do. Holiday charters are very common — last minute, no warning, got to get the boat here or there. The show must go on, really.”
benefit of working a charter “The during holiday would be the
benefit of tips. Doing a good job for people at the holidays, Christmas and New Years, people are usually very generous.”
HAVE YOU LOST CREW DUE TO HOLIDAYS?
they have left for holiday. I get “Yes, it. This is a job. At the end of the day, there are other jobs out there.”
someone wants time off during “Ifholidays, they may actually have
to resign from the job because there is no way it’s going to happen. That’s what yachting is.”
gets to the point in this job “Itwhere you have to assess whether
the job is worth it. [If] you have family with a problem, you have an internal struggle: ‘If I stay here, in 10 years’ time will I regret my decision?’ If the answer is yes, then you’ve got to leave. That decision is extremely hard and it’s to be respected.”
